Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Meet eHarmony success couple Joni and Jason, whose love of baseball created a bond between them—even though they root for rival teams.

Joni and Jason
Illinois
Married: April 19, 2008

Joni and Jason at Wrigley Field, each sporting their team's colors.

Well, another baseball season wrapped up over the weekend. It was sad to see the final out occur in each of our teams’ games on Sunday afternoon.

But only a little sad because we have the memories of another great season of living in a Cubs-Cardinals marriage. The year started out looking like the two teams would be battling for the division title all summer. But then the bottom fell out for my Cubs, leaving Joni’s Cardinals to coast into the playoffs starting this week.

This year was still a blast, however. We started out the season by continuing our slow-but-sure quest to visit all of the MLB parks. For our one-year wedding anniversary in April, we drove out to Washington, D.C. Among our stops there was a Nationals-Braves game. We also drove up to Baltimore for an Orioles-Rangers game. And if that wasn’t enough, we stopped in Louisville, Ky., on the way home to tour the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory and catch a Louisville Bats minor league game.

And of course, we also made it to Busch and Wrigley several times this year to see our teams. Two of those games were contests between the Cubs and Cardinals. We each saw our team win once, which helped make this season a tiny bit more bearable for me.

So what happens during the playoffs in the our home? Well, last year, when the Cubs made it to postseason, Joni threw her support behind my team. She didn’t go as far as to wear a blue hat or anything, but she was happy for me and the team for the very few moments the Cubs saw success in the playoffs. I expect to return the favor this season. I won’t be caught dead wearing any Cardinals stuff, but I’ll share in Joni’s happiness if her team can win some games starting this week.

As you can tell, baseball is a big, big part of our lives. We start in the fall by checking both teams’ schedules for the following spring and summer. From there we determine how baseball games can be worked into our vacations, our birthdays (which both take place during baseball season) and our weekend getaways. We often choose restaurants on their likeliness they’ll be showing a baseball game. Even when we’re sitting at home, there’s a 75 percent chance the TV will be tuned to a baseball game or a baseball highlights show.

Each of us is very lucky that the other loves baseball so much. It adds a dimension to our relationship that we’ll always be able to share –even when we’re old and gray.